Valentine's Day is fast
approaching, and you might be short on ideas. Roses?
Chocolates? So done before. Instead of heading to the
store, take a peek at that stash of fabric scraps you
have stuffed away in the corner. There’s some serious
potential there, just wait and see! A few fabric scraps,
some delicate embroidery and filling, and you have a
huggable and rustically cute little Valentine’s Day
gift!

All you need to make your cute patchwork pillow is:

Red and pink fabric
scraps

Two pieces of fabric
large enough to make the back and front of your
heart pillow.

This project is a great excuse
to use all those bits of awesome fabric you couldn’t
bring yourself to throw away. Though pinks and reds are
classic for the holiday, your heart and scraps can be
any color. Dig in and find your favorites, and don’t be
afraid to mix it up! I had fun prints mixed with
metallics mixed with soft velvets.

In addition to your scraps you’ll also need two pieces
of fabric large enough to make the pillow itself, back
and front. The front piece is what we’ll build our
patchwork pattern up on. The back can be anything. I
picked a soft velvety fabric so it was extra fun to hug.

Start by marking out a heart
shape on your fabric. Right now, this is just a general
guide for your patchwork area, but if you want, you can
mark and cut out a heart shape from your back fabric and
use it as a template.

Once you have your “heart” shape mapped out, it’s time
to start getting crazy with scraps! There are a lot of
different ways of getting a crazy-patchwork look, but
I’m going to use the easiest way I know.

Place a piece of fabric down on your heart canvas. Flip
it right side down, and sew along one edge.

Flip it back over, and press
that seam flat with an iron. One piece down!

That’s all there is to this
technique. To add the next piece, flip another piece
right side down next to the edge of another, sew a seam,
and flip it back over. You just work outward from the
first square, constantly covering the raw open edges of
patches with the next piece of fabric. In any instance
when you need a patch to have two finished edges, just
press and fold one side of your seam before sewing the
other edge in place. Don’t worry, we’ll tack it all down
later to make sure it stays in place.

Once you’re sure the whole area of your “heart” is now
covered in patchwork fabric (you won’t be able to see
your heart marking anymore, but that’s OK) you may want
to stitch over all the seam edges again to make
everything nice and secure.

If you want, now is a time you can also get crazy with
decorative stitches and the like, or just choose to
stitch around the edges.

Here are my pieces of patchwork
fabric, all ready and waiting for some awesome
embroidery.

There are all kinds of designs you could add to your
pillow at this point, but I personally like
light-stitching designs for anything I’m going to be
snuggling with.

I picked the large and medium sizes of one of our
mendhika designs, because when stitched in white, I
thought they might look a bit like lace.

Hoop up your fabric with some
cutaway stabilizer and stitch up your designs! Stitching
these two
mendhika medallions in one color really lets their
beautiful and delicate detail take front and center
stage. They were also light enough that I could overlap
the designs no problem.

Now, let’s return to that back fabric. If you didn’t
already mark and cut out a heart shape, do that now. I
just eyeballed mine with a pen, if you like you can also
fold it in half once it’s cut out and trim the two sides
until they’re even to ensure a perfect heart shape.

Now we can use this piece to
map out where it’s going to overlap our patchwork and
embroidery designs. Place your back piece right side
down onto your patchwork. Make sure when you place your
pillow shape that it’s not overlapping any non-patchworked
areas. You can also use this as a kind of visual guide
to see where your embroidery is going to end up on your
pillow.

Once you’re happy, pin your
heart in place.

Sew a wide seam (about 1/2 inch) around your heart,
leaving a few inch gap near the bottom for turning and
stuffing.

Once the two pieces are sewn together, cut off all the
excess fabric and patchwork. Yes, for me, that even
meant cutting through some embroidery. Before you turn
it right side out, be sure to clip some notches into the
top of the heart seam to prevent bunching.

Turn your heart right side out.

Awesome! All your pretty scraps
are perfectly complemented by the bright white
embroidery.

Now all that’s left is to stuff and stitch your pillow
closed.

Be mindful, even a pillow this small can take a lot of
stuffing to really fill it out! Put in small handfuls
and take your time to get it filled out evenly.

Once your pillow is stuffed enough, hand-stitch the
opening closed with matching thread.

Done and done! A thrifty and
quick little Valentine’s gift perfect for snuggling with
that special someone or adding a little romance to your
home decor.

Not into Valentine's Day? No
problem! Skip the heart shape and go crazy with the
colors. Colorful patches with bright white embroidery is
a look that can work for any season. All you need are
fabric scraps, and goodness knows you probably have
enough of those...